Connect Claude to Live Options Data (MCP Guide)

Large language models are good at reasoning about markets and bad at knowing what the market is doing right now. The Model Context Protocol (MCP) closes that gap: it lets an AI assistant like Claude call real tools against live data instead of guessing. This guide connects Claude to institutional-grade options analytics — IV rank, dealer gamma exposure, expected moves, screeners, strategy builders — in about two minutes.

What is an MCP server?

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open standard for wiring AI assistants to external tools and data. An MCP server advertises a set of typed tools; the assistant decides when to call them and interprets the results. The ApexVol MCP server comes two ways — hosted by us at https://apexvol.com/mcp-server (nothing to install), or run locally from the apexvol-mcp package on PyPI. Either way it exposes 44 options-analytics tools across 8 categories, backed by 64 documented REST endpoints.

The practical difference: ask a bare model “Is NVDA’s earnings straddle overpriced?” and you get plausible-sounding text. Ask a model connected to an options MCP server and it calls an earnings-move tool, compares the implied move against the realized history, checks IV rank, and answers from numbers it just fetched.

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Options analytics, live.

Chains, IV rank, expected move and dealer positioning for 5,500+ US stocks and ETFs.

• Live chains and Greeks
• IV rank and percentile
• Expected move and GEX
• Screener and strategy P&L

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What you can ask once connected

• “What’s the IV rank on SPY, and is the vol risk premium positive?”
• “Where’s the gamma wall on QQQ this week?”
• “Should I buy the AMZN earnings straddle or sell it?”
• “Screen for names with IV rank above 80 and no earnings in the next two weeks.”
• “Build an iron condor on SPY around the expected move and stress it ±10%.”
• “Pull the 30-delta put on NVDA and calculate its probability of profit.”

The 8 tool categories: options chain, volatility, Greeks & GEX, options flow, strategy, risk, events & screening, and ticker analytics. The complete tool list lives on the API & MCP page.

Before you start

• An active paid ApexVol plan — every plan includes the API and MCP server, and each tool follows the same tier as its web-app feature (Pro unlocks the full surface).
• That is the only requirement for the hosted connector below. No terminal, no Python, no token.
• The local install additionally needs Python 3.10 or newer and an API token from Account → API Access — tokens look like avmcp_…, are shown once at creation, and can be rotated in one click.

The quickest route — connect from Claude's directory

We host the MCP server for you and it is listed in Claude's connector directory, so there is nothing to install and no API token to copy anywhere. Claude signs in to your ApexVol account instead. Three steps:

1. Open ApexVol in Claude's connector directory (or in Claude go to Customize → Connectors → Discover and search for ApexVol), then select Connect to Claude.
2. Claude sends you to apexvol.com. Sign in if you aren't already, then press Approve. The approval screen names the app requesting access, the exact address it is limited to, and the single permission it grants: read options analytics on your behalf — chains, IV, Greeks, screeners.
3. Ask a question: “Is NVDA’s earnings straddle overpriced?”

Access is read-only — it cannot change your account, your billing or your password. Approving creates a token labelled Claude connector on your account; to disconnect, revoke it under Account → API Access, and reconnecting from Claude issues a fresh one.

Adding it by hand also works: in Claude, open Customize → Connectors, choose Add custom connector and paste https://apexvol.com/mcp-server (the apex form, not a www. address).

The developer route — run the server locally

If you'd rather run the server on your own machine — for Claude Desktop, Claude Code, or another MCP-compatible client — install the apexvol-mcp package instead. This route needs Python 3.10+ and an API token; the connector above needs neither.

Local step 1 — Install from PyPI

pipx keeps the command isolated and on your PATH (plain pip install apexvol-mcp also works):

pipx install apexvol-mcp

Local step 2 — Verify the install and your token

Before touching any Claude config, confirm the command works and the token authenticates. This prints the client version, the auth result, and your remaining quota:

APEXVOL_API_TOKEN=avmcp_YOUR_TOKEN apexvol-mcp --check

Local step 3 — Connect Claude

Claude Code (CLI) is one command:

claude mcp add apexvol -e APEXVOL_API_TOKEN=avmcp_YOUR_TOKEN -- apexvol-mcp

Claude Desktop: add this to claude_desktop_config.json (macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/; Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\), then restart the app:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apexvol": {
      "command": "apexvol-mcp",
      "env": { "APEXVOL_API_TOKEN": "avmcp_YOUR_TOKEN" }
    }
  }
}

Pasting your token into a local config file is the intended way to connect. If a token is ever exposed somewhere public, rotate it under Account → API Access — the old secret dies instantly and the label carries over.

Using it with ChatGPT and other MCP clients

MCP is an open standard, so the same server works beyond Claude. In ChatGPT, add a custom connector (Settings → Connectors — ChatGPT calls MCP servers “connectors”, and availability depends on your ChatGPT plan) and paste the same URL: https://apexvol.com/mcp-server. Any other client that supports remote MCP servers over streamable HTTP connects the same way, and clients that run local stdio servers can use the apexvol-mcp package instead — one URL, or one pipx install.

The client is open source (MIT) at github.com/ryansilk/apexvol-mcp — the repository carries the full 44-tool list, the test suite, and release notes.

Prefer raw REST?

Everything the MCP tools can do, curl can do — same token, same endpoints:

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer avmcp_YOUR_TOKEN" \
     "https://apexvol.com/api/mcp/data/iv-rank/NVDA"

See the options data API guide for endpoint families, conventions and limits, or the OpenAPI 3.1 spec in the API documentation.

Access and limits

API & MCP access is included with every paid plan — each endpoint follows the same tier as its web-app feature, so your plan queries the data it includes and Pro unlocks the full surface. Rate limits are 60 requests/minute and 1,000/hour per token, with a 10,000-request monthly budget per account — every response carries rate-limit and budget headers, and your account page shows a per-endpoint usage breakdown.

Troubleshooting

• The connector won’t authorize. Confirm your ApexVol account has an active paid plan, then remove the connector and connect it again from the directory listing. If you added it by hand, check the URL is exactly https://apexvol.com/mcp-server (no trailing slash, no www.).
• Local install misbehaving? Run the health check first — apexvol-mcp --check with your token prints the client version, auth result and remaining quota, which diagnoses most issues in one shot.
• “Invalid or missing API token”. The token must start with avmcp_ and must not have been revoked; rotate it under Account → API Access if in doubt.
• Server not loading in Claude. Restart Claude Code or Claude Desktop after any config change, and check apexvol-mcp is on your PATH (which apexvol-mcp).
• Requests time out. Usually a local network issue — if apexvol.com loads in a browser, retry; rate-limit headers on every response show whether you have hit the 60/min cap.